Day 19: Mount Rainier: One Day is Not Enough

Today we got a later start.  I was 2 days behind in my blog postings, and our loved ones began to wonder if we had driven off a cliff, or something equally catastrophic.  So, we made an executive decision to camp me somewhere in close proximity to the strongest WiFi we could find, so I could catch up on the blog posts. (Who knows if the very post I am writing now will successfully upload…) I keep reminding myself that all of these kinds of things are what makes this an adventure.  It’s all about the unknown…which is most certainly stretching me as a person.  I had a good laugh with Greg today about this very thing…the title of our blog, “Greg and Sandy’s Epic Adventure,” should really have a subtitle, because we have a recurring theme so far in our journey.  Ready to hear the subtitle?  Wait for it….Subtitle is “Trust Your Husband & Listen to Your Wife.”  We are both stretching in these and countless other ways…this has all been very good for us, even though, at times, it has not been comfortable.  But I ask you… Were the Explorers comfortable? Were the Settlers comfortable?   Were our forefathers comfortable?  Ok, I admit I went a bit far…but on a more realistic note…even though it seems that nothing comes “easy,” I guess I needed to be uncomfortable in order to grow and stretch to meet this next chapter of my life.  The fact that we are into our 3rd week and still excited about our tomorrows to come, I think, is a very good sign. Quite a blessing! Thank you God!  By the way, if it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I will be zip-lining through the forests.  Let’s see if I’m still excited about this stretching thing….

So, on to our activities today.  We dedicated this whole day to exploring as much of Washington’s Mt. Rainier as we could.  It is such a massive, impressive, awe-inspiring place, there is just no way to see even a fraction of it in just one day.  However, the Champ and I are hoping to use this trip to get a taste of all the sights, with the plan to some day return to the places we love the best for an extended stay and really invest ourselves in all that they have to offer….hopefully by the time we return again, I will be in better shape to be able to hike/kayak and fish in this beautiful country.

As for Mt. Rainier…it is as beautiful as we have heard it is.  So green, so majestic, so powerful.  We especially loved how uncrowded it was.  There were far less tourists here than in the other national parks we have visited so far. Also, it is special to us to visit region where our daughter-in-law Val’s family lives.  I can see why they love it so much here.  It is so beautiful.

I could go on and on with my superlatives…but I will instead let a few pictures of the day tell the story far better than I possibly could….